T Minus 4 hours and counting!

SO... we are counting down and having mini panic attacks ( half excitement and half nervousness and half plane ride ) ever half hour or so. I can't believe the day is finally here! We've been talking in the future tense so much with this trip that it is almost surreal to be thinking in the present tense!

We've had a few hiccups with our flight checkin and luggage payment (we love small banks... sometimes...) but we know that God will work everything out and it will be fine once we get to the airport.

We are so thankful for all of the prayers, support, encouragement, and gifts over the last 6 months. It has been a wild spiritual ride and it's only going to get better! We love you all so much and hope that we will be able to keep in touch with you during the trip. But if not, we will make sure to write everything down so we can tell you a million stories when we get back! Keep praying for safety, discernment, health, revelation, limited spider sightings, good attitudes and better food.

Here are some of the images we are looking forward to seeing when we get to Zambia! Just to give you an idea of our accommodations!

an arial view of the Rapid 14 base we will be living on. It is on the edge of the gorge of the Zambezi river

This should be what our safari tents look like from the outside, they have a roof over the top of the tent

This is the restroom/shower building

This is the view from the 2nd floor of the main building

one of the restrooms

view from the 2nd floor of the main building to the first floor

this is one of our classrooms, overlooking the gorge and the river

the view of the river from the classroom

There are many things we are nervous about, but thinking of all the wonderful things we will learn and experience, including the views and landscapes we will see, and of course how incredible our God is makes the fears and worries fade.

We love you!!!

Sally and Brandon

busy love and the countdown

We have been SO blessed to be very busy with some very special things and very special people over the last few weeks! It is so neat to be able to invest in the lives of our brothers and sisters with the extra time God gave us to prepare between Haiti and Africa.

We have been babysitting and spending lots of time with the kids and youth at church as well as taking time to get to know more of the adults in our Sunday School department. It has meant so much to be able to get to know so many of you on a more personal level! We know you will be thinking of us and praying for us while we're gone, and that truly gives us great encouragement and peace!

Here are some of the cuties we have been spending our time with over the last few weeks:


























































And this morning we got to spend some great time with the WMU Adults on Mission Team, so now
the upper age range is represented, AWESOME! Such an outpouring of support and love, and we
enjoyed answering all their questions and receiving lots of hugs and prayers. So thankful for the opportunity and we can't wait to follow up with them after our training!

We love you all so much, will remember you in our prayers, and will miss your smiling faces while we're in Africa!







We are also SO thankful to our wonderful friends for pulling through at the last minute for us. Our babies (4 legged furry kind) will be well taken care of while we're gone! Sean and Lane McCulley are SAINTS... along with Adam and Eva Matthews and Mary Catherine and Michael O'neal, and many other wonderfully sweet offers. You will never know how much this means to us! from the bottom of our hearts, and Kit and Daisy's too... THANK YOU!!!!







SOOO----

The countdown begins! 2 weeks from YESTERDAY we will be flying out! Our plane leaves on Monday night, August 27th at 9pm! We will fly directly to London where we will sit for about 9 hours and proceed on a 14 hour flight to Johannasburg, South Africa, and then 2 more hours to Livingstone, Zambia. WHEW!

We are so fortunate to have met a WONDERFUL couple who will be going with us to AMT (Advanced Missions Training), Nate and Bethany Lusk! We have been skypeing and facebooking and they have just been a huge emotional and practical help to us! They will actually drive down on Saturday before we leave and stay with us at my parents house in Snellville! It will be great getting to finally meet them in person! We are all excited to go to Mount Zion for our last Sunday in the states, and are so grateful to all of you who have been praying for us and supporting us so far. It will be a blessing to see you the day before we take off!

Nate and Bethany Lusk

We have been gathering all of our items and actually started packing last night. I think we're gonna make it! :) I've been dreading putting all my clothes in one place, because I just KNEW that I was going to have this MASSIVE stack and Brandon would look at me like... yeah right... but I did good! I'm taking some extra stuff, but it's definitely reasonable! We may be able to make it with 3 bags instead of 4, which will be great on the wallet, and our backs! It all depends on the weight, so we'll see! We made a trip to Sam's Club and Walmart today for all our toiletry/food items... I can't call them the 'small things' anymore because most of them are in either big bottles or large quantities! Time to start packing again tonight and then Thursday we're off to spend a few days with Aunt Hiddie! (So glad we will get to spend time with her before we leave!)


Again, thank you all for praying us through this journey! We are SO excited to start our training... along with some nervous excitement for things and people we will encounter...but for the most part overwhelmingly blessed to be able to follow God into the world and tell all those who will hear about His love and His Son. That's what it's all about!

Love you all, we will keep you posted as time draws nearer!

Sally